One day on a train journey he isn’t sure why he is taking, Joel (Jim Carrey) meets Clementine (Kate Winslet), and the two start up a conversation.
Fast forward a little bit, and the two are becoming very close. In fact, things are progressing nicely as far as Joel is concerned.
Then all of a sudden, he discovers Clementine doesn’t want to see him any more. This is an incredibly jarring moment for Joel, and his life as he knows it begins to fall apart very rapidly.
He receives a card in the mail saying that Clementine has undergone a ground-breaking new procedure at the so-called Lacuna Institute – run by Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), where all memories of Joel have been erased. He is instructed not to try to contact her as this will only confuse and upset her.
After some research of his own into the Institute and the procedure, Joel decides he must undergo the same procedure, as living with memories of Clementine that he isn’t able to act on is just too damn difficult.
But getting rid of memories that in fact make him who he is proves to be more difficult than he had first thought.
Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay is absolutely incredible. There are so many intricately woven subplots and timelines going on here that it is impossible to understand everything that is going on with only one viewing of this film. In fact, having seen it myself at least six times, there is still more and more I discover with each subsequent viewing (And let me assure you, your understanding of the film will change the more times you watch it, too).
Director Michel Gondry, who also seems to specialise in films that are a little more on the surrealist side of reality, is truly in his element here as well. Although this is the only film directed by Gondry that I have seen that he did not write himself, so the tone is very different from a lot of his other projects.
The performances by both Carrey and Winslet are also superb. In my opinion, this is one of the best films Jim Carrey has done, certainly one of the best serious dramatic roles he has portrayed. The cast all seem to be well grounded in the reality of this film, and their portrayals are heart-achingly true to the reality the film creates.
Other notable cast members include Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst as Lacuna employees who turn up to run the procedure on Joel. All three of them bring their own unique skills to their roles, and the three of them work extremely well together.
As already mentioned, this film will give you plenty to think about, particularly on a repeat viewing. It is well worth taking the time to get your hands on; you will thank me for it.
Without a doubt, this is one of my favourite films of all time.
10 out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment